Coldiretti says cow brain still banned

Coldiretti hails lifting of restrictions on Roman dish pajata

ANSA - Rome, July 16 - Italian farmers' group Coldiretti on
Thursday welcomed the lifting of EU restrictions on the Roman
'pajata' dish made from the intestines of an unweaned calf,
while noting that fried brain was still banned under the rules
drawn up to combat mad cow disease.
The EU's Official Gazette sanctioned a March decision by
the permanent committee on vegetable and animal foodstuffs in
Brussels to lift the restrictions given that there have been no
new cases of BSE - bovine spongiform encephalopathy - since
2009.
Coldiretti president Roberto Moncalvo hailed pajata's
return as "an important result for consumers, restaurants,
cooks, butchers and farmers".
However, Coldiretti noted that adult cow brain remained on
the list of banned body parts. In some traditional Italian
recipes, bovine brain can be dipped in water and flour, or egg
and breadcrumbs, and fried to make fritters.
Mad cow disease causes the brain and spinal cord of an
animal to degenerate, and tends to affect adult cattle.